Possibly the most famous (or infamous) Joker cover of all time. More than one young reader remembers being terrified of the menacing clown depicted on original Neal Adams cover of Batman 251, reimagined here by Rick Celis in his trademark style after Batman the Animated Series.

He’s still pretty terrifying. Cat-Tales Joker is not always as deadly as his comic and movie depictions – except when he is. And that’s why multiple critics have declared him more authentic than the relentlessly “you cannot believe how deadly he is, the biggest big bad of all big bads” that reign in too many comics. For Chaos is the heart of the Joker, and chaos is not predictable or consistent. One of Joker’s most brutally chaotic appearances is playing Superman against himself in Knight of the Mirrors.